[putashirton]

I have been trying to wrap my head around if this is possible on my current setup, getting digital audio that is not processed by the PI.
My understanding of audio is a little out of date, so please bare with me.
I am having troube understanding if my tv has passthrough and if it will work.

I just got my first Rasberry pi 2.

i have a yahama receiver that handles PCM, Dolby DIgital 7.1 and, Dolby DTS 7.1.
This receiver does not have any HDMI inputs/outputs
This receiver does have 3 digital optical inputs, and 2 RCA type digial inputs, and finally 4 or 5 analouge RCA.
It is not in the budget to be replacing this unit, so i am stuck with it.

i have a samsung tv h6350, only a few months old.
The back has two audio outputs. One of them is called (digital optical tosilink). Currently it is being used by my TV, but i can free it up if need be.
The second audio output is just a 2.5mm? not sure.

Any advice will help.
thanks
-paso

[popcornmix]

Optical cannot do 7.1 - you need HDMI for that.
5.1 AC3 or DTS passthrough should be possible through optical.

The Pi doesn't output optical directly. You can use a HDMI->optical splitter (this sort of thing).
You may be able to use your TV as the optical output, but it is not guaranteed to be supported for passthrough.
See here. In that article Samsung didn't do well.

[putashirton]

correct me if i am wrong,
you are saying i have 2 options
1. analouge 2 channel
OR
2. get a digital extractor box to get 5.1

is this right?

also side question,
are there any USB to digital audio or on board Raspberry pi options that work? My tv does have a USB connection

[noggin]

correct me if i am wrong,
you are saying i have 2 options
1. analouge 2 channel
OR
2. get a digital extractor box to get 5.1

is this right?

Those are the two recommended options - though the analogue output from the Pi is not HiFi quality.

The Digital extractor box is the most reliable way of getting DD (and possibly DTS) bitstreamed audio out of the Pi (make sure you get one that allows for DD/DTS extraction and doesn't force 2.0 PCM)

The other option, as alluded to, is to feed HDMI to your TV and then take an optical out from your TV to your amp. On SOME TVs this will allow DD (though often not DTS) pass through - but on others it only allows PCM 2.0 to be carried. Depends on the TV.

also side question,
are there any USB to digital audio or on board Raspberry pi options that work? My tv does have a USB connection

TV USB is irrelevant for this. There are USB audio solutions - but AIUI they are less useful on the Pi/Pi2 than x86 platforms as they don't work with one of the two playback solutions the Pi uses? (ISTR that OMX Player only outputs audio over HDMI or analogue and won't output via USB, but MMAL acceleration allows this?)

[noggin]

Optical cannot do 7.1 - you need HDMI for that.

True - though the pedant in me points out that DTS ES 6.1 can be carried over optical. (I've got a couple of DVDs with DTS ES sound tracks.)

[putashirton]

Those are the two recommended options - though the analogue output from the Pi is not HiFi quality.

The Digital extractor box is the most reliable way of getting DD (and possibly DTS) bitstreamed audio out of the Pi (make sure you get one that allows for DD/DTS extraction and doesn't force 2.0 PCM)

The other option, as alluded to, is to feed HDMI to your TV and then take an optical out from your TV to your amp. On SOME TVs this will allow DD (though often not DTS) pass through - but on others it only allows PCM 2.0 to be carried. Depends on the TV.

This is good advice. I just tried "stealing" my TV's toslink output and it appears to work. my reciever is registering a digital signal in 5.1. I dont know how this is possible becuase everything i have read here says that passthrough was not possible with most samsung tvs.
I was wondering, since both the TV and the PI have successfully outputed sound to the receiver, is it possible to split the signal with a Toslink Digital Optical Audio Splitter such as the one in VIMVIP found on amazon?

[noggin]

I was wondering, since both the TV and the PI have successfully outputed sound to the receiver, is it possible to split the signal with a Toslink Digital Optical Audio Splitter such as the one in VIMVIP found on amazon?

Could you post details of the exact splitter model and what you want to achieve? I'm not clear.

[putashirton]

I have one optical toslink output on the back of my TV
My PI is sending A/V to the TV, the TV can output the audio from the PI via the optical toslink to my reciever
The tv channels over the air (OTA) TV signal can also output to the reiever via the same optical toslink port

Since they are both possible and i have only one toslink output. If I put a splitter on the outgoing toslink from the tv to the reciever's 2 toslink inputs, would that work?

example devices found on amazon are....

VIMVIP Toslink Digital Optical Audio Splitter 1 in 2 Out (Black) - this is advertised on amazon.
ViewHD Toslink Optical Audio Splitter 1x3 | One Input to Three Outputs | VHD-TS1X3 - this is also advertised on amazon